That means that if Baker, 53, successfully completes a year of probation and doesn’t get into any more trouble during that time, the fifth-degree theft charge will be cleared from his record.

The disposition happened May 16, according to court records. Baker could not be reached for comment.

Baker, one of 40 applications for the Wellman city administrator position, assumed his duties in early October. He was charged Jan. 3 after police said he took a $10.69 bottle of aspirin from Freeman Foods in Wellman.

Baker was placed on administrative leave for a brief time between his arrest and the City Council decision in January to terminate his contract.

Law enforcement officers stand on railroad tracks behind Dave Wright Subaru on Monday, May 14, 2012, in northeast Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Isaiah Sweet was captured by law enforcement. Sweet is suspected in the deaths of 55-year-old Richard Sweet and his 62-year-old wife, Janet. Their bodies were found Sunday afternoon. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette-KCRG)

During a search of the Chevrolet Avalanche that double-murder suspect Isaiah Sweet was driving early May 13 when police stopped him in Iowa City, detectives found drugs and paraphernalia, including medication prescribed to his grandmother, who he’s accused of killing.

Isaiah Sweet, 17, of Manchester, is accused of shooting and killing both his grandparents – Janet Sweet, 62, and Richard Sweet, 55 – before leaving town toward the Iowa City area, where he was stopped and held for driving with a suspended license.

Family members and authorities discovered the couple’s bodies later on May 13, after their grandson had been released from the Iowa City Police Department. He was arrested in connection with the killings after a short manhunt May 14, and he’s been charged as an adult with two counts of first-degree murder.

According to search warrant documents made public Tuesday, investigators who searched the vehicle found a medication bottle prescribed to Janet Sweet containing 23 tablets of acetaminophen-hydrocodone, a narcotic prescribed for pain, in a duffel bag.

They also found a half dozen other pills and drug paraphernalia, including a “one-hitter pipe” with marijuana residue, according to the warrant.

The warrant states that officers contacted Sweet in the early morning hours of May 13 while investigating an alarm at Fast Break, 2580 Naples Ave., in Iowa City.

Sweet, who had two passengers, initially said they were not involved in the alarm, but officers eventually determined they did trigger the system, according to the warrant. According to the documents, Sweet told officers that his passengers “were at the door trying to open the business.”

Sweet failed to show proper vehicle insurance and a valid license, officers reported, and they took him into custody after discovering that his license was suspended and that he had falsified information to officers several times.

Officers asked to search Sweet’s vehicle at the scene on a tip from Sweet’s two passengers, Kelli Fisher and Tina Rice, according to the warrant. Fisher and Rice told officers there were “drugs in the back seat in the duffel bag,” according to the warrant.

Sweet denied them permission to search the vehicle, officers reported, but he later admitted to having prescription pills and marijuana paraphernalia in the vehicle.

The vehicle was towed, and Sweet was eventually released to an adult authorized by his mother. That adult dropped him off hours later in Cedar Rapids, where he was eventually arrested.

Fisher has told The Gazette that she met Sweet for the first time that weekend when he took her and her friends to a party in Iowa City. Fisher told The Gazette that Sweet also had a hunting knife in the vehicle, although officers didn’t identify any weapons on its list of items seized during the vehicle search.

Javonte Marquis Nichols

An Iowa City man was arrested Monday after police said they found dozens of individually packaged baggies of marijuana and about $1,000 in what appeared to be drug money.

Javonte Marquis Nichols, 20, faces charges of controlled substance violations and possessing or distributing without a tax stamp, both felonies, and possession of a controlled substance, an aggravated misdemeanor.

Detectives discovered the drugs and paraphernalia after executing a search warrant for narcotics at Nichols’ apartment at 2420 Bartelt Road, apartment #2C, according to a criminal complaint. They found about $1,000 “consistent with proceeds from drug sales” and 39 individual packages of marijuana, according to detectives.

The marijuana totaled about 22 grams and was packaged for individual sale, according to police. Detectives also found packaging materials and a digital scale, according to the complaint.

Nichols is being held at the Johnson County Jail.

Marzell Hicks, Leslie Stokes and Dantrel Ware. (images via Johnson County Sheriff's Office)

Three Johnson County Jail inmates were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of making dozens of jailhouse phone calls using the personal identification numbers belonging to other inmates, racking up more than $50 in calling charges.

Leslie Kittreal Stokes Jr., 19, of Cedar Rapids, and Dantrel Lavelle Ware, 19, of Iowa City, were arrested Saturday on charges of identity theft after authorities said they were caught on surveillance video using the only phone in the cell block at the same time the victim’s account was accessed, according to a criminal complaint.

Both Stokes and Ware obtained the victim’s identification numbers – used to control inmates’ commissary and phone account – without that person’s permission or knowledge, the complaint states.

Stokes is accused of using an inmate’s ID number to make 19 phone calls in two days, according to investigators.  Ware is accused of using an inmate’s ID number to make 18 phone calls in two days, investigators reported.

Stokes and Ware are accused of making the phone calls in the middle of last week, totaling $40 to $50 in charges, according to the complaint.

Marzell Lavell Hicks, 35, of Chicago, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of identity theft after deputies say he used another inmate’s ID number on Friday to make three phone calls worth $9.36, according to a criminal complaint.

The victim said he never gave Hicks permission to use his account, deputies reported. It’s unclear whether Hicks is accused of working with Stokes and Ware.

All three of the suspects are still being held at the Johnson County Jail.

Ware was in jail after police arrested him in April on suspicion of participating in an armed robbery at the Creekside Market in Iowa City on Feb. 22. Ware, one of three teens arrested in connection with the case, is accused of entering the store and standing in as a decoy so another suspect could sneak up on the clerk.

The clerk was injured in the robbery, and the suspects got away with several hundred dollars in cash, according to police. He was being held in lieu of $30,000 on charges of first-degree robbery, going armed with intent and assault with a dangerous weapon.

The new identity theft charge adds $2,500 to his bond.

Stokes, who was in jail serving a year sentence following a conviction of assault and use of a weapon, is being held additionally on an $8,100 bond.

Hicks, who was being held on charges of second degree theft and burglary, is now being held in lieu of a $25,500 bond.

Repeat offender Marcus Abbott talks with The Gazette in the visitation room at the Johnson County Jai in Iowa City. He was charged with 20 crimes from 2007 to 2011, according to jail statistics(Brian Ray/The Gazette)

Clad in inmate orange, using a phone to talk through soundproof glass at the Johnson County Jail, Marcus Abbott said he feels stuck in a cycle that seems impossible to break.

Abbott, 26, of Iowa City, has been arrested in Johnson County every year since 2004, according to court records, and he has additional arrests as a juvenile. He was charged with 20 crimes from 2007 to 2011, according to jail records, and he’s back behind bars now on suspicion of his third domestic assault.

“I honestly can’t say or pinpoint what the problem is,” Abbott told The Gazette.

Abbott is among 115 repeat offenders in Johnson County who have been charged with 20 or more crimes between 2007 and 2011. He also belongs to a group of 134 “frequent fliers” who’ve been arrested in Johnson County every year for the past five years.

Linn County’s list of recidivists is even longer, according to jail records reviewed by The Gazette. More than 950 people there have been charged with 20 or more crimes between 2007 and 2011. That includes Joseph F. Botello, 72, of Cedar Rapids, who was charged with 143 crimes in the five-year stretch.

Recidivists — repeat criminal offenders who have spent more than a few nights in jail — are a problem, according to local law enforcement officials and experts. Frequent fliers, on average, use a majority of a jail’s beds, and they can cost a county millions — especially inmates who don’t have the means to pay required room and board fees.

But, according to Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner, the recidivism problem doesn’t have an easy fix. County and state agencies have tried treatment and diversion programs aimed at keeping frequent fliers from returning. But most potential solutions cost money.

Sheriff Brian Gardner

“And the money for those programs has dried up,” Gardner said. “The easiest method right now is to arrest these people and bring them to jail and then let them go back out the door. And, for many people, the cycle never ends.”

Some inmates, including Abbott, say the criminal justice system can be especially difficult to escape for low-income repeat offenders. They struggle to pay court costs, fees and fines. Indigent offenders also might have a hard time finding a ride to court, landing them back in jail on failure to appear charges.

“If they don’t have transportation and they don’t have money to pay for court costs, I can see how it would be harder to stay out of the system,” Gardner said. “But I don’t know what the solution is.”

The Linn County Jail charges inmates convicted of a crime $60 a day to stay in the jail. Johnson County charges inmates a flat accommodations fee of between $40 and $80, depending on when they’re booked. Those fees are supposed to help cover the costs of housing inmates — $64.70 in Linn County and $75 to $80 a day in Johnson County. But many people don’t pay those fees, especially recidivists like Botello in Linn County.

“We know it’s a waste of time to try to get him to pay us,” Gardner said. “I assume we haven’t gotten much money out of him and others like him.”

The top 10 repeat offenders in Linn County logged between 79 and 143 charges in the past five years. Johnson County’s top 10 faced between 33 and 40 criminal charges in that span.

John Neff, University of Iowa professor emeritus who studies trends at the Johnson County Jail, found that recidivists in the 2011 budget year accounted for 82 percent of the bed space in the Johnson County Jail. He tallied the jail’s estimated annual cost to incarcerate persistent recidivists — those people who have been arrested in three or more years over a 10-year span — at $1.64 million to $1.75 million.

His analysis supports the theory that once a person gets into the system, it’s more difficult for them to escape. Recidivists, he said, are more likely to be arrested, held after an initial court appearance and have their sentences enhanced because they are repeat offenders.

And, he said, many of the jail’s recidivists also frequent the area’s emergency rooms.

“This is a sad story,” he said.

Abbott, who moved to Iowa from San Diego in 2000, said his first Johnson County arrest came at age 17 after he got into a fight on a basketball court.

“Apparently, when you get in a fight in Iowa, it’s called assault,” Abbott said.

Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek

Many of his offenses stem from lack of knowledge about the legal system, according to Abbott. The longest time he has spent behind bars was one year for his second assault conviction, and Abbott said he’s resolved to steer clear of the jail after he’s released for his most recent offense.

“I’m just gonna get my job back,” he said.

But inmates, including Abbott, have accused authorities of trying to keep them in the system to bring in revenue. Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek discounted that accusation.

“Every person in the County Jail costs taxpayers money,” he said.

And the inmates’ failure to pay their fees is just part of the problem, according to Pulkrabek.

“It’s always someone else’s fault,” he said. “It’s people not taking responsibility for their own actions.”

Top Linn County offenders from 2007 to 2011

•  Joe F. Botello, 72, of Cedar Rapids, 143 crimes.
•  Terrance D. Rush, 27, of Cedar Rapids, 99 crimes.
•  Joshua D. McCool, 22, of Cedar Rapids, 98 crimes.
•  Aaron L. Jackson, 22, of Cedar Rapids, 96 crimes.
•  Manuel Martinez, 26, of Cedar Rapids, 89 crimes.
•  Michael G. Moore, 58, of Cedar Rapids, 86 crimes.
•  Prentiss H. Thurmond, 48, of Hiawatha, 86 crimes.
•  Mark D. Loftus, 54, of Cedar Rapids, 84 crimes.
•  Cordale S. Baker, 25, of Cedar Rapids, 79 crimes.
•  Leroy T. Walker, 49, of Cedar Rapids, 79 crimes.

Source: Linn County Jail

Top Johnson County offenders from 2007 to 2011

•  Dameka L. Bryant, 37, of Iowa City, 40 crimes.
•  Harry Rayton, 25, of Iowa City, 40 crimes.
•  Michael M. Wright, 34, of Iowa City, 40 crimes.
•  Anthony L. Greenwood, 52, of Iowa City, 38 crimes.
•  Alfonso J. Reid, 39, of Coralville, 36 crimes.
•  Gary L. Duffel, 43, of Coralville, 35 crimes.
•  David J. Munz, 62, of Iowa City, 35 crimes.
•  Danielle M. Davis, 26, of Iowa City, 34 crimes.
•  Anthony D. McKinney, 28, of Iowa City, 34 crimes.
•  Chris W. Kelly, 30, of Coralville, 33 crimes.

Source: Johnson County Jail

Facts about recidivism in Johnson and Linn counties:

•  958: People charged with 20 or more crimes in Linn County between fiscal 2007 and 2011.
•  150: People charged with 20 or more crimes in Johnson County between fiscal 2007 and 2011.
•  $75 to $80: Cost per day to house an inmate in the Johnson County Jail
•  $60: Cost per day to house an inmate in the Linn County Jail

Sources: Johnson, Linn County Sheriff’s Offices

Maria Rosita Ledesma

A 19-year-old University of Iowa student was arrested Thursday on suspicion of taking her roommate’s credit card and using it without permission at a handful of stores, including Victoria Secret, Rue 21 and Francesca’s Collection.

The victim, who also is a UI student, contacted UI police around May 10 to report her credit card had been stolen and used at Starbucks, Blick Art, the University of Iowa, Victoria Secret, Rue 21 and Francesca’s Collection, according to a criminal complaint.

The victim reported the suspect tried to use the card at the Burge C-Store and I Like Purses, but the card was declined, according to the complaint. Video footage captured of the suspect using the card led investigators to Maria Rosita Ledesma, 19, of Waterloo, according to the complaint.

Ledesma is the victim’s roommate, police reported. She admitted to taking and using her roommate’s card to make unauthorized purchases, according to the complaint.

Ledesma is listed in the UI directory as a student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She also has a job in the food service department, according to the directory.

Ledesma, who faces a charge of unauthorized use of a credit card, was released from the Johnson County Jail on Friday morning.

Cedar Rapids Firefighters who are part of the State of Iowa Weapons of Mass Destruction Response Team investigate a simulated chemical and radiological attack on Carver-Hawkeye Arena Wednesday, May 16, 2012 on the University of Iowa Campus in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

Tucked inside Coca-Cola-shaped trash cans that ring Carver-Hawkeye Arena, authorities on Wednesday found devices wired to disseminate toxic gas into the facility capable of holding more than 15,000 people.

Fortunately, the mock devices were planted as part of a statewide emergency preparedness exercise spearheaded by the State of Iowa Weapons of Mass Destruction Response Team. Emergency responders from 10 state agencies participated in the day-long drill on the University of Iowa campus, and dozens of volunteers played the role of victim in the exercise that had them stand under a decontamination hose outside Carver on Wednesday morning before being transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics emergency room.

“We have spent eight months preparing for this,” said Clint Powell, survey team leader with the 71^st Civil Support Team for the Iowa National Guard. “We’re getting good training value out of this already, and it’s not even 10 a.m.”

To stage the drill, organizers wired trash cans in Carver with false gas-disseminating devices and then staged a bomb outside the arena aimed at creating more casualties. Once outside, volunteers participating in Wednesday’s drill stood under a decontaminating device – which looked like a massive shower – to clean off any toxic fumes.

Faux patients went to the UI’s Hospitals and Clinics with cards detailing symptoms for emergency responders.

The goal of the exercise, Powell said, was to practice communication procedures and agency coordination, employ equipment that responders don’t always use, and evaluate what’s working and what’s not.

“We hope this raises awareness about the things we could do better and the things we’re already doing well,” Powell said.

Iowa City’s Carver arena was chosen as the drill site, according to Powell, because it’s among the biggest in the state and can hold thousands of people.

“It’s a top candidate for an attack,” he said. “It’s in the top 10 for sure.”

Iowa City and its agencies participate in several exercises like the one Wednesday each year because, Powell said, a real disaster presents a “no-fail environment.”

This week’s drill involved about 25 volunteers and enough responders to total about 100 participants. UI senior Bridgette Hunemuller, hugging her knees while soaking wet on a yellow tarp in the Carver parking lot, said she volunteered to participate as a victim in the drill because she believes in the value of practice.

“I think it’s really important to make sure all the teams are prepared,” said Hunemuller, a member of the UI Emergency Medical Services Student Interest Organization.

Moments earlier, Hunemuller had stood under the decontaminating hose and then rattled off her symptoms to an EMS responder.

“I’m pre-med, and I thought it would be a good experience to see how it would go if I had to help and be a part of it,” she said.

The drill started around 8:45 Wednesday and was scheduled to continue until 4 p.m. In an effort to make it as realistic as possible, UI spokesman Tom Moore said, exercise organizers kept details about the drill confidential from many of the men and woman participating.

The exercise used some emergency room space at the university hospitals, and Moore said the hospitals are no stranger to disaster drills. They conduct two full-scale exercises every year, and Moore said the Joint Commission – a national group that accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States – rated the hospitals as having one of the finest emergency preparedness programs in the country.

“We all need to be prepared,” Moore said. “These things can happen when you least expect it.”

Participants in Wednesday’s exercise include the Iowa City Fire Department, Johnson County Hazardous Materials Team, the Johnson County Emergency Management Agency, Johnson County Ambulance, the UI Department of Public Safety, UI Hospitals and Clinics, the State Hygienic Laboratory, Iowa, the Iowa National Guard’s 71^st Civil Support Team, the Salvation Army and the State of Iowa Weapons of Mass Destruction HazMat Team.

[View with PicLens]

Sheriff officers lead Isaiah Sweet into the Clayton County Courthouse in Elkader, Iowa Tuesday May 15, 2012. Sweet is being charged for killing his grandparents Richard and Janet Sweet of Manchester, Iowa on Friday May 11. (AP Photo/Dubuque Telegraph Herald, Dave Kettering, Pool)

When Isaiah Sweet was picked up early Sunday at a convenience store in Iowa City, the Manchester teenager told officers they wouldn’t be able to reach his grandparents – his legal guardians.

Sweet, 17, who now faces two counts of first-degree murder in connection with his grandparents’ death over the weekend in Manchester, was picked up by Iowa City police about 3 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of driving with a suspended license. Because he’s a juvenile and wasn’t booked into the Johnson County Jail, officers were trying to reach his guardians to pick him up.

Iowa City police Chief Sam Hargadine said Sweet told officers that his grandparents were en route to Rochester, Minn., inferring they were headed north toward the Mayo Clinic.

“It was his way to explain why we couldn’t get a hold of the grandparents, so we located his mother,” Hargadine said.

Sweet’s mother agreed to let the police release her son to a female counselor out of Cedar Rapids, according to Larry Hedlund, special agent in charge with the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation.

That counselor, who Hedlund wouldn’t identify, works for a Cedar Rapids organization and knows Sweet from previous contacts. Hedlund said the counselor, who picked up Sweet from the Iowa City Police Department about 8 a.m., dropped him off later Sunday at the Cambridge Townhomes and Apartments, 2113 North Towne Court NE.

Sweet had associates there, Hedlund said, and investigators are now looking into what time the counselor dropped him off at the apartments and what they did between the time he was picked up and dropped off.

Hendlund said investigators are interviewing the counselor and the people Sweet was going to see in the Cambridge Apartments. He said authorities could in the future decide to file charges against persons accused of aiding and abetting Sweet’s efforts to elude police.

But, he said, there are no plans to file additional charges at this time.

Sweet, accused of killing his grandparents, Janet Sweet, 62, and Richard Sweet, 55, of Manchester, at their home over the weekend, was never actually booked into the Johnson County Jail because he’s a juvenile.

Instead, he was held in a back room at the Iowa City Police Department until officers could find an adult to pick him up, according to Chief Hargadine.

“He was not locked down or anything,” he said.

Sweet was allowed to keep his cell phone during that time, and his Twitter feed shows he used it to send several Tweets including, “Cant wait to get outa the cop shop.”

Hargadine said Sweet was allowed to keep his phone because his charge was so minor and he was only being held until an adult could come get him.

“The more property you take away, the more you have to sign for later,” he said.

Officers typically don’t detain people at the police department, Hargadine said.

“If this were an adult, we would go straight to the Johnson County Jail,” he said. “But there are a lot more rules that kick in when you’ve got a juvenile detained.”

Had Sweet lived in the Johnson County area, Hargadine said, officers would just have driven him home.

Hargadine said the Iowa City police didn’t violate any of its own policies by releasing Sweet with his mother’s consent, even though she wasn’t legally responsible for him. The police release juveniles, especially those being held on minor charges, to a parent or guardian, Hargadine said.

“We are not going to keep him here,” Hargadine said.

Hayes Obinna Obinna-Uzoh and Kenneth Devonta Clayton

UPDATE: Two University of Iowa students were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of imprisoning and assaulting a woman in a residence hall.

Hayes Obinna Obinna-Uzoh, 19, is accused of asking the victim to strip in a room in Currier Hall about 9:30 p.m. April 18 while another man recorded it, according to a criminal complaint. The woman stripped, according to the complaint, and then Obinna-Uzoh’s colleague threatened to post it online.

The woman begged the men to delete the video, and they said they would if she performed oral sex on them, police reported.

About a month later, at 11:20 p.m. Thursday, the victim reported being detained against her will by a man identified as Kenneth D. Clayton, 19, and another subject while Obinna-Uzoh touched her breasts despite her screaming, “No, stop,” according to investigators.

According to a criminal complaint, Clayton is accused of picking up the victim’s legs to detain her while another person held her arms behind her back, telling his cohorts to attack her. The third person started to pull down the woman’s pants but stopped after she screamed, “No, stop,” according to police.

The next day, Friday, about 1:50 p.m., Clayton is accused of grabbing the woman’s breasts while another person held her arms behind her back.

Obinna-Uzoh, a UI student from Nigeria who lives in Currier Hall, faces charges of false imprisonment, extortion, and assault. Clayton, a UI student from Washington, DC who lives in an apartment at 419 S. Johnson St., faces a charge of false imprisonment.

It’s unclear whether anyone else has been or will be arrested in connection with the alleged assaults.

Both men were still being held at the Johnson County Jail on Monday morning. Obinna-Uzoh had a bond of $16,000 cash only. Clayton’s bond was set at $3,150.

Dallas Miller (Johnson County Sheriff's Office)

A 23-year-old Aplington man arrested in September after police said he entered the bedroom of a Kalona woman in September with a rifle, camera and a roll of tape has been convicted of first-degree burglary and assault with intent to commit sex abuse.

Dallas J. Miller is scheduled to be sentenced on the charges June 18. He could face up to 25 years in prison on the burglary charge and up to five years in prison on the assault charge.

A jury returned the verdict Friday in a Johnson County courtroom, and Miller was taken into custody pending his sentencing.

Jurors heard testimony during the week-long trial about how Miller entered the bedroom of a Kalona woman about 2:20 a.m. Sept. 8 with materials that investigators suspect he was going to use to sexually assault the victim.

He then broke off the door knob so other family members couldn’t enter the room, according to the police, and he put his hands over the woman’s mouth so she couldn’t scream. The woman managed a scream and alert her family, however, and investigators said Miller fled out a window.

When deputies responded a few minutes later, they saw Miller’s pickup truck parked about 100 yards from the house. They found the rifle outside the woman’s door and black tape and a camera inside her bedroom, deputies reported.

Miller knew the victim, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.

Haehlen’s grown daughter, Dede Eschen, 43, for years had been raising money for a playground in Alburnett, a community north of Cedar Rapids that lacks public play space. So when the family caught wind of the Humana-sponsored “Build a Family Legacy” sweepstakes, they began applying.

The contest allowed entrants nationwide to apply every day during the application period for the $50,000 grand prize of a custom-designed playground in their neighborhood. The playground, aimed at promoting health and wellness, would be the 11th playground constructed through a joint effort of Humana Inc. and Kaboom, a national non-profit organization that has built more than 2,000 playgrounds.

Eschen, pushing for a playground for her two young daughters, entered 20 times. Her sister, Janna Dierks, 46, entered 10 times. Their 66-year-old mother, Haehlen, entered 75 times. And she won.

“This is huge,” Eschen said, explaining that a playground was in the long-term plans for Alburnett’s Martin Sports Complex but wasn’t scheduled for construction until after the softball, football and track facilities were built.

Eschen, whose girls are in second and third grade, decided that wouldn’t do.

“They are the reason I started this,” she said. “The playground was so far down the road, my girls would have been done before it was built.”

On Saturday, as 35 Humana staff members joined forces with about 140 community volunteers to construct a playground equipped with slides, walking paths, fitness stations and a pirate ship, dozens of children looked on in anticipation.

“I’m gonna barge right over there,” said Parker Conklin, 7, who was waiting with other children who were not allowed near the playground until its completion.

They didn’t have to wait long. The playground-building project was a one-day endeavor that started before 8:30 a.m. and ended with a ribbon cutting about 2 p.m.

The 2,500 square foot playground is multigenerational, meaning it offers amenities for all ages — from walking paths and stretching equipment for senior citizens to slides, monkey bars and the pirate ship-shaped play deck for children.

Workers spent Saturday shoveling mulch, digging holes, installing equipment, and pouring concrete. The children painted stone steps that would lead to the playground, decorated trash can lids and wrote thank you notes.

The effort was the largest community service event Alburnett has ever seen, said Meghann Payo, a project spokeswoman. In fact, considering that about 350 of the 600-some people who live in town are children, about half of the adults were helping in some facet.

“The people who are not here are going to feel left out,” Payo said.

Alburnett Mayor Dave Boesenberg, while installing stretch equipment at a fitness station, expressed his surprise at the tremendous turnout of community volunteers.

“This is the most people we’ve had turn out for anything,” he said, adding that the new playground will fill a huge need for children in town. “This is the only thing we have. There is no green space and no playground, so this is a big deal.”

Susan Freeman-Murdah

UPDATE: After deliberating for just two hours Friday, a six-member jury found Susan Freeman-Murdah not guilty in the state’s first trial of a mandatory reporter accused of failing to report child abuse or neglect.

The verdict was a sealed verdict, meaning the jury handed the signed forms to the judge, who then contacted the attorneys by phone.

In closing arguments earlier Friday, Assistant Johnson County Attorney Meredith Rich-Chappell argued that a reasonable person trained as a mandatory reporter and experienced in running a child care center would not have immediately dismissed allegations from a mother concerned that a teacher had sexually abused her daughter.

But, Rich-Chappell said, that’s what Susan Freeman-Murdah did.

Freeman-Murdah, director of Iowa City’s Broadway Neighborhood Center accused of the state’s first failure to report charge, said to the mother, “It didn’t happen. It didn’t happen here,” Rich-Chappell told the six jurors and one alternate chosen to hear Freeman-Murdah’s four-day trial.

“Freeman said that to her because she had disregarded her role as a mandatory reporter,” Rich-Chappell said. “She should, as a mandatory reporter, be able to say, ‘This is a red flag. It might not have happened, but this is a red flag.’”

Rich-Chappell told jurors that “a reasonable mandatory reporter would have recognized the red flags and acknowledged those red flags as signs of possible sexual abuse.” And, she said, that reasonable mandatory reporter would have been required to make a report to the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Defense attorney Leon Spies argued that his client considered all the information at her disposal and, knowing sexual abuse did not occur, did not find cause to contact the state.

Judge Stephen Gerard told jurors before closing arguments that, to find Freeman-Murdah guilty of failure to report, the prosecution had to prove three things. Rich-Chappell had to show that Freeman-Murdah is a mandatory reporter, that she reasonably believed that the child in question had suffered abuse by a teacher at the center, and that Freeman-Murdah knowingly and willingly failed to report suspected child abuse.

Spies argued that his client never believed the child had been abused, and therefore did not willingly fail to report the crime. Rich-Chappell argued that a reasonable mandatory reporter would have suspected the complaint as legitimate and passed it over to authorities to investigate further.

“The state is not saying that she acted with a motive or didn’t care for (the child),” Rich-Chappell said. “The state is alleging she made an assumption and never looked back. She considered the case as a boss. She considered it as director of the Broadway Neighborhood Center. But she did not consider the case as a mandatory reporter.”

The six-member jury is now deliberating Freeman-Murdah’s fate.

Judge Gerard has not yet ruled on a motion for acquittal in the case. State officials have said they’re watching the case as they believe it’s the first of its kind in Iowa.

Freeman-Murdah, 44, was arrested Feb. 1 on suspicion of failure to report after police said a mother of a child who attends the center she oversees came to her in December with a report that a teacher there had taught her 3-year-old daughter how to kiss “passionately.” The mother, who The Gazette is not naming to protect the identity of her daughter, also said her daughter came home with her underwear inside out and with pain and a rash in her private area.

Rich-Chappell said the child had symptoms consistent with sexual abuse, and an Iowa City detective testified that the department is continuing to investigate whether someone else abused the child.

The original teacher named by the child has been cleared as a suspect in the case.

The Johnson County courtroom Friday morning was filled with supporters of Freeman-Murdah, along with the mother who contacted police about the suspected abuse to her daughter and police detectives who made the arrest.

Active Endeavors personnel told investigators that they donated a stack of gift certificates for a local charity drive’s upcoming event. Before the event, the organizer reported noticing that one of the certificates had been taken off his desk in his office, and he notified the store to be on the lookout, according to a criminal complaint.

Jason Chad Hawkins, 36, and his female friend are accused of trying to use the certificate to buy shoes on May 1, according to the complaint.

The store manager turned down the sale, contacted police and then followed them until officers arrived, according to the complaint. When questioned by police, Hawkins admitted to being with a female friend when she originally tried to use the certificate, the complaint states.

It was later discovered that Hawkins lives with the female friend, who works for a cleaning company that had access to the event organizer’s desk, according to the complaint.

The gift certificate was valued at $50.

It was not immediately known whether the female friend was arrested on similar charges.

Susan Freeman-Murdah

IOWA CITY — The judge hearing the case of a mandatory reporter accused of failing to report allegations of sexual abuse is considering a motion to acquit the defendant.

Defense attorney Leon Spies argued after the jury was dismissed Thursday that the Johnson County Attorney’s Office has presented “no evidence” that his client, Susan Freeman-Murdah, reasonably believed an allegation of sexual abuse involving her staff at the Iowa City-based Broadway Neighborhood Center.

“It would be inappropriate to submit this matter to the jury,” Spies said.

The County Attorney’s Office filed a charge of failure to report against Freeman-Murdah, director of the neighborhood center and a mandatory reporter under state law, after police said she didn’t contact the Iowa Department of Human Services about a mother’s contention that a teacher at the center taught her 3-year-old daughter how to kiss “passionately.”

Prosecutors allege Freeman-Murdah failed to report on Dec. 12, after she met with teachers and the mother who made the complaint. But, Spies said, there has been no debate about the fact that, on Dec. 12, everyone thought the issue had been resolved, and the mother said she would bring her daughter back to the center.

“The matter was done,” Spies said.

He also addressed the prosecution’s assertions that perhaps the child was abused by someone else. Spies said the jury is bound to consider the allegations in the original complaint that accuse Freeman-Murdah of failing to report allegations against the specific teacher at the neighborhood center.

“To allow the government to argue to the jury that some unknown person committed sexual abuse… would be a fatal variance,” he said. “We are held to the theory and the original complaint.”

Assistant County Attorney Meredith Rich-Chappell argued that if the court views the statute the way Spies suggests, it would “gut” the mandatory reporter law and make it nearly impossible to charge.

“The argument would be, no matter what evidence you heard, that I didn’t reasonably believe it,” Rich-Chappell said. “That makes the statute virtually impossible to violate.”

In order to give the statute real meaning, Rich-Chappell said, the court must consider “what reasonable care an ordinary cautious person would take.”

“The evidence in this case would indicate that a reasonable cautious person would have made the conclusion that there was possible child abuse, and this needs to be reported to DHS for further investigation,” Rich-Chappell said.

Judge Gerard appeared to agree with Spies’ arguments.

“The law is what it is,” he said, stressing that it charges a mandatory reporter to make a report based upon a reasonable belief.

“It’s unfortunate that the legislature chose those words,” Gerard said. “I don’t know why they chose them. It might be that the statute is fatally flawed in itself.”

Gerard said he would consider the motion to acquit overnight and rule in the morning.

“Certainly this is a significant issue in this case,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Freeman-Murdah took the stand and testified that she didn’t contact the Iowa Department of Human Services about the allegation because “I never believed it.”

“There was no child abuse,” Freeman-Murdah told the six jurors and one alternate hearing her case. “I did not report it because I did not believe it.”

“I am not guilty of that charge,” Freeman-Murdah said.

When pressed by Rich-Chappell, Freeman-Murdah said the child’s reports to her mother that she learned to kiss from the teacher, felt sore in her private area and came home with her underwear inside out could be considered signs of sexual abuse.

And, when asked if perpetrators of sexual abuse can sometimes be unexpected people, Freeman-Murdah said, “Yes, sometimes.” Still, she insisted, she knew from the start that no abuse occurred.

“I wasn’t worried about it,” Freeman-Murdah said.

Christopher John Ajluni

An Iowa City man has been arrested on accusations he assaulted a cab driver during an argument over the cab fare, kicked the car and jumped on the vehicle, attempting to break its windshield wiper.

Christopher John Ajluni, 23, faces charges of criminal mischief and assault causing bodily injury after police said he got into an argument with a taxi driver that turned physical. Iowa City police were called to 705 Streb St. about 2:30 a.m. March 18 on a report of a fight.

The driver said Ajluni kicked his cab, then came at the driver after being confronted, according to a criminal complaint. The driver told investigators that he took Ajluni down to avoid being assaulted, and the two fought on the ground.

During the altercation, the driver said he suffered abrasions, a bloody and swollen lip, and an injury to his ribs where he said Ajluni kicked him, according to the complaint.

Witnesses also reported seeing Ajluni kick the side of the cab, creating a large dent in the passenger fender. Following the fight between the driver and Ajluni, at least four witnesses said they saw him sprawled across the hood trying to break the windshield wiper as the driver tried to get away, according to the complaint.

The estimated cost of the damage was $320.

Ajluni admitted to being in a fight with the driver, according to the complaint. He stated several times, according to the police, that his friends had to hold him back so he would not assault the driver further.

Four of the five members who comprise the board based on City Council appointments to four-year terms agreed Wednesday during its annual community forum to make the name change suggestion to the City Council.

Joseph Treloar, vice chairman of the group, suggested changing the name to the Citizens Police Review Board. Chairman Donald King suggested changing the perception of the board by changing the name to something more inclusive like Community Police Review Board.

The group made a motion to change the name after several community members asked the board why it has taken them so long to do anything with repeated suggestions to change the board’s name.

Janie Braverman, a former board member, said the group had agreed two years ago – when she served – to change the board’s name to make its purpose more clear.

Braverman and Iowa City resident Carrie Z. Norton asked the board whether, in addition to the name change, they think a change to the structure of the group is necessary.

“Are you frustrated with the structure?” Norton said. “Do you think it’s serving the purpose that the review board was established for?”

Treloar said he wishes the board could look with more detail into community issues and concerns with the police department.

“Sometimes that’s frustrating,” he said, adding that at least Iowa City has a board.

King said he hopes to change the perception of the board more than the structure of the group, which was created in 1997 to “assure external accountability of the Iowa City Police Department.” The group’s duties, in part, include reviewing department investigations into allegations of misconduct lodged against police officers and conducting further investigation of complaints when the board deems necessary.

“The perception by the public of what we can and can’t do might be more of a problem,” he said.

But board member Royceann Porter said she is very frustrated with the way the board is set up, calling it a way of “shutting up the community” after an Iowa City officer in 1996 mistakenly shot and killed Eric Shaw, a 31-year-old artist.

“I feel like we can’t do anything,” Porter said. “In 1997, rules were made because of something that happened.”

Porter, who said she personally filed a complaint with the review board, argued that the name change won’t do much to resolve concerns with the group.

“Name change or no name change, it’s not about the name change,” she said. “More needs to be done than just a name change.”

Porter suggested the board needs to look into why only six complaints have been sustained out of 80 total complaints involving 177 allegations since 1997.

“When we met last week, we talked about what we as a board can do, and personally, we can’t do nothing,” she said. “We can give recommendations to the City Council, but no one has any recommendations to give because they’re okay with what’s going on.”

Susan Freeman-Murdah

The Iowa City Police Department is still investigating the allegations of sexual abuse on a 3-year-old girl that are at the center of the state’s first trial of a mandatory reporter accused of failing to report.

But, investigator Kevin Bailey testified Wednesday, the teacher at the Iowa City-based Broadway Neighborhood Center who the toddler named as the perpetrator is not a suspect.

“I felt confident it was not (the teacher),” Bailey said. “(The teacher) is no longer a suspect in this case. I can’t say that about other people.

“The sexual abuse investigation regarding (the child) is still open,” he told the six jurors and one alternate chosen to hear Susan Freeman-Murdah’s failure to report trial this week in Johnson County.

Bailey indicated that another person who works at the center occasionally and has the same first name as the teacher initially identified as a suspect is one person still under investigation. That person is in Ireland, however, and Bailey said police are waiting until she returns to question her.

Freeman-Murdah was arrested Feb. 1 on a count of failure to report after police said staff members at her center came to her in December with reports that a mother believed one of the teachers there had sexually abused her 3-year-old daughter.

The mother then talked directly to Freeman-Murdah about the allegations, including one accusing a teacher of showing her daughter how to kiss “passionately.”

Freeman-Murdah is accused of looking into the allegation herself and not contacting the state.

During a January interview between Freeman-Murdah and  Bailey, Freeman-Murdah called the teacher originally suspected in the case “amazing” and indicated she has no concerns about her interaction with children.

Freeman-Murdah – during the police interview that was recorded without her knowledge and played for jurors Wednesday – questioned the mother’s report.

“I didn’t want to say to mom, ‘What do you mean by passionate?’” Murdah-Freeman said in the interview. “‘I don’t know how to judge her perception.’”

Freeman-Murdah told Bailey she wanted to ask the mother who else the child had been around who could have had this type of influence.

Upon cross-examination, Freeman-Murdah’s defense attorney Leon Spies accused Bailey of being on a mission to “get” his client. He accused Bailey of telling County Attorney Janet Lyness that he didn’t like Freeman-Murdah.

“And you said this would be a press nightmare, because she is so well-liked by the poor black community, blah, blah, blah,” Spies said, pressing Bailey on what he meant by “blah, blah, blah.”

Bailey said he regretting using those words, explaining that was just a conversation between professionals. He said he believes that he and Freeman-Murdah have the same goal – to keep children safe – but they have different philosophies of how to do it.

When asked why Bailey charged Freeman-Murdah and not another teacher at the center who knew of the allegation, Bailey told a judge – after jurors were asked to leave the room – that the teacher told police he thought Freeman-Murdah was going to report it.

“That was the only reason he wasn’t charged,” Bailey said. “I had the charge written out and was prepared to apply for an arrest warrant.”

A judge ruled that information inadmissible at trial because it was related to a separate charge and wasn’t directly related to Freeman-Murdah’s case.

The prosecution rested its case Wednesday afternoon, and the defense is expected to call seven witnesses, including Freeman-Murdah.

Defense attorney Spies called his first witness Wednesday – the teacher the child named as the perpetrator. That woman said she was shocked and angered by the allegation.

When questioned about whether Freeman-Murdah asked her if she committed the alleged abuse, the woman said, “No.”

“She didn’t ask me if I kissed (the child). She knew I didn’t do it,” the woman testified. “I straight out said I didn’t do it.”

State officials are watching the case closely because they believe it’s Iowa’s first arrest of a mandatory reporter accused of failing to report. If convicted, Freeman-Murdah could face a sentence of up to 30 days in jail and a $625 fine.

Attorneys are expected to give their closing remarks and turn the case over to the six jurors on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.

James Lavon Miller waived his right to a trial before a jury and was tried before U.S. District Judge John. A. Jarvey. He was convicted Monday in U.S. District Court, according to U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt.

Miller’s conviction stems from returns filed in 2008 and 2009 corresponding to the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 tax years, according to Klinefeldt. Miller was convicted of knowingly listing false amounts of interest income and federal withholding in his returns.

He also was convicted of claiming millions of dollars of tax refunds to which he was not entitled, according to Klinefeldt. Miller is being held in custody until his sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled.

The Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case with the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Amanda Lucille Malek

A 32-year-old woman from Perry has been arrested on suspicion of six counts of identity theft after police said they discovered evidence that she provided fictitious medical diagnosis letters to various healthcare providers between October and November 2010 in an attempt to get narcotics.

Iowa City police arrested Amanda Lucille Malek on suspicion of presenting the letters claiming she’s been diagnosed with a brain tumor on apparent company letterhead, according to a criminal complaint. The healthcare facilities where Malek is accused of taking the letters reported having no records substantiating the information on the letters, according to the complaint.

Physicians who allegedly signed the letters have confirmed that they’re fake, according to investigators.

One of the doctors reported having no affiliation with the facility where the letter supposedly originated, according to police.

“The defendant’s medical and prescription history clearly demonstrated a pattern of behavior consistent with narcotic seeking,” according to the complaint.

Susan Freeman-Murdah (Johnson County Sheriff

Susan Freeman-Murdah, the Iowa City mandatory reporter accused of failing to report a case of suspected child abuse to the state, did not shirk her duties, her defense attorney told jurors Tuesday during opening statements of her trial.

She did not make a report to the Iowa Department of Human Services because she did not suspect an incident of child abuse or neglect had occurred, said defense attorney Leon Spies.

“Sue Freeman is accused of having a belief that (the child) had been abused and, knowing that and her responsibilities, deliberately failing to contact DHS,” Spies said, insisting that his client is not guilty of that accusation.

“Sue Freeman is a dedicated professional – there are few people as dedicated,” Spies said. “She is not the type of person to shirk her legal obligations.”

Spies pointed out to the jury that Freeman-Murdah, director of the Iowa City-based Broadway Neighborhood Center, wasn’t the only person with the organization who chose not to contact the state or local authorities about the complaint. The executive director of the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County also didn’t make a report, and an administrative assistant and another teacher at the center didn’t contact the state either, Spies said.

None of them thought the complaint warranted a report, Spies said, and the state has since determined the allegation of abuse is unfounded.

But Assistant Johnson County Attorney Meredith Rich-Chappell said none of that matters. When the mother came to the center in December with concerns that her 3-year-old daughter had been sexually abused by an assistant teacher at the center, Freeman-Murdah had a responsibility to contact the Department of Human Services, Rich-Chappell said.

“Ultimately, the allegations about (the child) being abused by a specific person in a specific place is not in question,” Rich-Chappell said. “It’s whether there was sufficient information that Freeman-Murdah knew about on Dec. 12 that would require her to make a report of what she knew.”

Freeman-Murdah, 44, was arrested Feb. 1 on suspicion of a charge of failure to report, a simple misdemeanor. State officials have said they’re watching the Johnson County trial closely as Freeman-Murdah’s arrest is the first in the state of a mandatory reporter accused of failing to report.

According to authorities, the mother originally reported the alleged abuse to another teacher, an administrative assistant and then Freeman-Murdah. The director is accused of conducting her own investigation and deciding it didn’t warrant a report.

Spies, her defense attorney, said Freeman-Murdah didn’t dismiss the allegations without looking into them. She talked to the teacher and checked their schedules to see if they were in the classroom alone at the same time.

“When this information got to Sue Freeman, she didn’t just sit on it,” Spies said.  “Freeman didn’t ignore, disrespect or disregard (the mother’s account).”

In fact, Spies said, Freeman-Murdah confirmed the mother’s decision to report the suspected abuse and said her child is safe at the center.

But Rich-Chappell said the mother felt Freeman-Murdah dismissed her concerns, in part, based on the fact that the mother had been sexually assaulted as a child.

“(Freeman-Murdah) did not believe there was credible information that (the child) had been abused by (the teacher) in her classroom,” Rich-Chappell said. “At that point, the investigation by Freeman ended.”

The mother testified in court Tuesday that Freeman-Murdah “didn’t do no type of comforting” when she came to her with concerns.

She explained that she suspected her toddler had been abused after the child started kissing her “passionately” out of nowhere. The mother said she was taken aback and asked the child where she learned that. The child named her teacher, the mother testified.

The mother said she previously noticed a rash in her daughter’s private areas, and she once came home with her underwear on inside out and backwards.

After expressing her concerns, the mother said she felt Freeman-Murdah “was more worried about (the teacher’s) well being than my daughter’s.”

Michael Crowley, a teacher at the Broadway center who worked with the teacher accused of committing sexual abuse, backed up his colleague during his testimony Tuesday. He said the mother’s complaint that his coworker had sexually assaulted the child “did not seem credible.”

If someone did show the toddler how to kiss “passionately,” Crowley said, “It was probably one of my three year old boys.”

Crowley said, however, that he referred the report to Freeman-Murdah, who he said did not report it to the state or authorities. When asked why Crowley didn’t report the case to the state himself, he said, “I didn’t report it because I didn’t think anything happened.”

“I did not know that, as a mandatory reporter, I had to report things I didn’t believe,” he said.

The six jurors and one alternate, four women and two men, have been asked to return at 9 a.m. Wednesday for more testimony. Freeman-Murdah’s defense attorney told jurors that his client will take the stand to testify in her own defense.

Steven J. Fiorella, 19, is accused of trying to use the stolen license to get into the Union, 121 East College St., just before 1 a.m. Saturday, according to a criminal complaint. The victim is a bouncer at the Union, and police said he immediately recognized the license that Fiorella was using to be his.

The bouncer, according to police, said he previously filed a police report about items that were stolen from the Union in February. Fiorella admitted to buying the items at a party for $20 from an unknown person, according to the complaint.

He was released from the Johnson County Jail.

The Iowa City Fire Department was called to a working structure fire at 1001 Oakcrest St. about 8:40 p.m. Monday. The first units on scene found a second-story apartment fully involved, with fire threatening nearby apartments, according to the fire department.

Fire crews began an “aggressive fire attack” and brought the fire under control in about 12 minutes, according to a news release. Firefighters searched the burned apartment and neighboring apartments for victims, and they made sure the fire had not spread, according to the news release.

The crews also conducted “salvage operations” to protect the personal belongings of people in the apartment building, the fire department reported.

A total of 13 firefighters responded to the blaze and managed to contain the fire to the apartment where it started, officials reported. The fire was completely under control in 30 minutes, and fire crews were on scene for about two hours.

The fire displaced the occupants of two apartments, and damage is estimated at $42,000.

The fire department is continuing to investigate the cause.

Dr. Resmiye Oral pulls up an X-ray of a child with broken ribs on Thursday, May 3, 2012, in her office at University if Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. Oral, who heads up the hospital's pediatrics department, said that hospital has been referring more child abuse cases to the state of Iowa.. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

Even before former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested in November on allegations he sexually assaulted young boys, the number of assessed reports of child abuse and neglect in Iowa was rising.

After authorities arrested Sandusky and several of his colleagues — mandatory reporters accused of failing to report knowledge of the abuse — the number of abuse and neglect calls to the Iowa Department of Human Services rose to nearly 280 a week compared with 190 a week a few months earlier.

“I do think we are talking more and more about these issues and how we can work with the community to find the best way to protect children,” said Amy Polson, social work supervisor for the Department of Human Services’ centralized intake unit.

The high-profile case out of Penn State University has brought attention to the issue of child abuse and the importance of mandatory reporters — professionals like doctors, teachers and counselors who are required to report suspected abuse or neglect to the state.

The case has prompted states to review mandatory reporting laws, motivated schools and health care systems to improve staff training, and pushed law enforcement officers to take action against mandatory reporters suspected of failing to fulfill their duties.

What is believed to be the state’s first arrest of a mandatory reporter on suspicion of failing to report happened in Iowa City in February. The director of Iowa City’s Broadway Neighborhood Center is accused of failing to contact the state after a parent reported suspicions that a teacher was sexually abusing a student.

Susan Freeman-Murdah’s failure-to-report case is scheduled to go to trial Tuesday, and state officials said they’ll be watching.

“I’ve heard of threats being made before by county attorneys,” Polson said. “But I haven’t heard, until this incident, that something’s been done about it.”

Another suspected child abuse case involving mandatory reporting popped up last week in Iowa City when a reporter called the state with allegations that Jorge Perez, 20, had left his 20-month-old stepson home alone for up to 20 minutes on April 25.

The toddler died Monday, and Perez was arrested early Tuesday in connection with the April 25 incident. Authorities say the death is suspicious, but they haven’t reported a cause or manner of death or filed charges in the case.

Media attention around the Sandusky Freeman-Murdah and Perez cases has encouraged discussion and education regarding state laws and mandatory reporter requirements.

Education requirements

In Iowa, mandatory reporters must take two hours of training in the first six months on the job and two more hours every five years after that. Mandatory reporters accused of failing to report suspected abuse can be convicted of a simple misdemeanor and sentenced to up to 30 days in jail.

A law will go into effect July 1 that makes it a crime for an employer to retaliate against a staff member for reporting suspected abuse.

Polson said the state is focused on education because some employers still have policies requiring staff report suspected abuse to supervisors first.

“Sometimes, because of interoffice policies, they are not reporting it when they should be,” Polson said.

The push to educate mandatory reporters about their rights and responsibilities might be working, Polson said, as her department is fielding more reports of child abuse or neglect, and investigators are following up on more of those leads.

The Iowa Department of Human Services assessed 30,747 reports of child neglect and abuse last year compared with the 26,413 reports assessed in 2010 and 25,814 reports in 2009. The department, on average, receives about 50,000 calls a year, although some don’t require follow up or warrant an investigation.

Reports can range from questionable accounts of neglect to serious allegations of abuse, Polson said.

“The biggest category is denial of critical care and failure to provide supervision.”

UI Hospitals reporting

The most common report made by staff at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City is about denial of critical care, said Tara Clark, assistant director of the Department of Social Service Resources. That includes failing to provide food, shelter, medical care or proper supervision, Clark said.

In the 2011 budget year, University Hospitals made 342 reports of possible child abuse or neglect to the state, up from 314 in 2010 and 237 in 2009, according to Clark.

Resmiye Oral, clinical director of the Child Protection Program with the UI Children’s Hospital, said she thinks the hospital is making more reports both because of education and staff training and because parents have been more stressed.

“I believe, with the 2008 economic downturn, there has been an increase of child abuse and neglect,” Oral said.

She praised Iowa’s mandatory reporting law, calling it “one of the most detailed laws in the country.” But, she said, the system isn’t perfect, and there are plenty of mandatory reporters in Iowa who don’t want to get involved.

“They don’t want to lose clients, and they don’t want to get into a hostile relationship with families,” Oral said.

Linda Fisk, vice president of Waterloo-based CE Solutions, which provides training for mandatory reporters, said she’s noticed a recent push from employers to make sure their staff is getting the appropriate amount of training and is aware of the law.

“That has been a change,” Fisk said. “You can thank Jerry Sandusky for that.”

Who are mandatory reporters?

• Iowa law defines “mandatory reporters” as professionals who have frequent contact with children including
• Physicians, surgeons and physician assistants
• Dentists and licensed dental hygienists
• Optometrists
• Podiatrists
• Chiropractors
• Registered and licensed practical nurses
• Basic and advanced emergency medical care providers
• Social workers
• Licensed school employees
• Certified psychologists
•  Employees and operators of child-care centers; substance abuse programs; juvenile detention facilities; health care centers; including mental health facilities; and foster care facilities
•  Peace officers

Source: Iowa Department of Human Services

The accident was reported at 10:50 a.m., and the interstate is now closed at mile post 247, according to spokeswoman Dena Gray-Fisher.

Transportation officials are working to detour motorists off of the Interstate as they clean up the scene. It’s unknown at this time whether anyone has been injured in the crash.

Officials don’t have an estimated time of when the interstate will reopen.

An Iowa City Police Officer sits in a squad car as crime scene tape surrounds the home at 2018 Waterfront Drive, #120, Iowa City, on Wednesday afternoon, May 2, 2012. (Matt Nelson/The Gazette - KCRG-TV9)

IOWA CITY — The Iowa Department of Human Services received a report that 20-month-old Marcus Balderas had been left alone in his Iowa City home for up to 20 minutes on April 25 — six days before the toddler died and seven days before his caregiver was arrested.

The department told The Gazette that a mandatory reporter called its intake unit on the same day Jorge J. Perez, 20, is accused of leaving his stepson home alone — April 25. Police initially reported that Perez was accused of leaving the boy alone on April 26.

Perez was booked into the Johnson County Jail at 2:36 a.m. Tuesday on suspicion of child endangerment without injury in connection with the incident seven days earlier, according to jail records.

Hours before he was booked, about noon Monday, Iowa City police reported that they’d been called to Perez’s home at 2018 Waterfront Dr., No. 120, for a report of a baby having difficulty breathing. Marcus, who also lived at the Waterfront Drive home with Perez and his biological mother, was rushed to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where he later was pronounced dead.

The time of Marcus’ death has not been released.

Police are calling Marcus’ death suspicious, but they haven’t ruled on a cause or manner of death, and they haven’t filed charges against anyone in the case.

It’s unclear when the Iowa City Police Department learned about the April 25 report of neglect to the state. Local police are investigating the case with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Department of Human Services and the Johnson County Attorney’s Office.

According to the criminal complaint alleging Perez left Marcus home alone on April 25, a human services worker met with Perez, who admitted to having left the toddler home alone for 20 minutes because he “felt rushed to get to school.”

“The defendant did not seem to be concerned about the lack of supervision for such a young child,” according to the complaint.

Marcus lived with his 18-year-old biological mother, Mireya Bianca Balderas, and Perez, police reported. Police haven’t released details about whether there were other children in the home, but according to Perez’s application for a public defender, he lived with a total of three children.

Perez is being held at the Johnson County Jail on the child endangerment charge in lieu of a $50,000 cash-only bond. Jail officials Thursday said no other charges have been added to his case.

An Iowa City Police Officer sits in a squad car as crime scene tape surrounds the home at 2018 Waterfront Drive, #120, Iowa City, on Wednesday afternoon, May 2, 2012. (Matt Nelson/The Gazette))

IOWA CITY — Police consider the Monday death of a 20-month-old toddler suspicious.

The toddler, identified Wednesday as 20-month-old Marcus Kaden Balderas, reportedly had difficulty breathing about noon Monday and was transported from his home at 2018 Waterfront Drive #120 by ambulance to the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, where he was later pronounced dead, according to Iowa City police.

A preliminary autopsy has been conducted, although the final results aren’t yet available, and a cause and manner of death has not been confirmed.

Police are, however, considering the death suspicious.

Iowa City police said they are working on the case with the help of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Iowa Department of Human Services, and the Johnson County Attorney’s Office.

A 20-year-old man who also lives at the Waterfront Drive address  was arrested Monday evening on suspicion of child endangerment without injury after police said he left Marcus alone in the house unsupervised on April 26 for up to 20 minutes.

Jorge J. Perez

Jorge J. Perez was brought into the Johnson County Jail after a mandatory reporter made a report to the Iowa Department of Human Resources accusing Perez of leaving his stepson home alone, according to a criminal complaint.

Iowa City police Sgt. Denise Brotherton did not confirm that police are investigating Perez in connection with the child’s death, but said Perez did live in the home with the child.

Marcus also lived with his biological mother, Brotherton said. According to Johnson County birth records, Marcus was born on Aug. 29, 2010, in Johnson County to Mireya Bianca Balderas, 18, and Jose Martin Morales Jr., 20.

At the time of Marcus’ birth, his mother would have been 16 and his father would have been 18, according to county records.

A MySpace page for Balderas is private but shows a picture of a toddler next to the words, “I (heart) my Marcus Kaden 8/29/10.”

Brotherton said she can’t confirm the relationship between Balderas and Perez, who is being held at the Johnson County Jail on the child endangerment charge in lieu of a $50,000 cash-only bond.

Jail officials Wednesday afternoon said no other charges have been added to his case.

Perez made an initial appearance Tuesday in Johnson County Court on the child endangerment charge, and a preliminary hearing in that case was set for May 11. He also was approved to have a public defender.

Tiffany Joanne Lewis, 30, faces a charge of child endangerment without injury and felony possession of a controlled substance after police were called to the 2300 block of Muscatine Avenue about 9 a.m. Tuesday on a report of a person acting “strange,” according to a criminal complaint.

A witness told officers that Lewis went to a nearby pharmacy, requested syringes and then went to the pharmacy bathroom with her child for several minutes, police reported. When she emerged, she appeared to be under the influence of drugs and requested a sharps container for used needles, according to the complaint.

When officers tried talking with Lewis, she backed away and tried to hide a Crown Royal bag behind her back, police reported. Officers eventually obtained the bag and found a metal spoon blackened with residue and a substance believed to be heroin, according to the complaint.

A used needle also was found in her bag.

Lewis, according to police, acknowledged that the substance was either “heroin or methamphetamine, she wasn’t sure which.”

Lewis was being held at the Johnson County Jail Wednesday in lieu of a $7,000 cash-only bond.

Dr. Earl Rose is shown in his Iowa City, Iowa. home Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Buzz Orr)

IOWA CITY — Many of the writers who attempted to portray Earl Rose’s role as Dallas County medical examiner when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 got it wrong.

His wife told The Gazette on Tuesday — just hours after her husband died in Iowa City at age 85 — that Rose wasn’t angry about the decision to move Kennedy’s body out of state before his office could conduct an autopsy in the city where the crime occurred.

“Some writers have described him as angry,” Merilyn Rose said. “He was dismayed, but not angry.”

Earl Rose was a Dallas County pathologist from 1962 to 1968, when he and his family moved to Iowa City so he could take a position as professor and forensic pathologist at the University of Iowa. When Kennedy was shot on Nov. 22, 1963, the president was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, and Rose, Dallas medical examiner at the time, insisted the autopsy be performed there.

Merilyn Rose on Tuesday said Kennedy’s wife and staff wanted to take Kennedy’s body to Maryland for an autopsy, over her husband’s objections. News outlets have reported that Earl Rose went so far as to stand in the doorway and block Kennedy’s aides as they removed his coffin.

“He felt the correct and right thing would have been for them to leave the body in Dallas to do the autopsy,” she said. “He was concerned about a break in the evidence. By taking the body away, the trail of evidence was totally disrupted. How do you do justice then?”

Rose also conducted the autopsies of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of killing Kennedy, and Jack Ruby, the man who shot Oswald. The Rose family at the time was flooded with phone calls and press inquires, his wife said, and writers since have portrayed Rose in books and film.

“They were not very kind to him,” she said Tuesday, referencing the William Manchester book, “The Death of a President” and the Oliver Stone movie, “JFK.”

“The Oliver Stone movie was not factual at all,” she said.

Merilyn Rose said the family faced a lot of unknowns at that time, recalling the situation as “difficult.”

“There was a lot of stress,” she said, “but we both handled it very well.”

The issue continued to garner media attention for years as conspiracy theories arose. But, after the family’s move to Iowa City in the late 1960s, Rose said her husband didn’t bring up the experience with students or friends.

“He was very reluctant to talk about it,” she said.

Earl Rose, who died at 3:15 a.m. Tuesday at Oaknoll retirement community after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and then dementia, became a respected professor at the UI, as well as a friend to many and a husband and father of six.

“I would much prefer them remember him as a very good teacher and a creative writer,” Marilyn Rose said, adding, “He very much enjoyed Iowa City.”

The Rose family moved from Dallas to Iowa City because Earl Rose was interested in teaching, and the couple wanted to be nearer their parents in South Dakota.

Charles Platz, a retired UI professor of pathology, said Rose fast become a supportive friend and colleague who was a “superb teacher” with a sense of humor. After their retirements, they met up occasionally and more frequently as Rose’s illness progressed, Platz said.

“I enjoyed coming over and getting him out in the convertible,” Platz said. “We would drive around the countryside. I think he enjoyed that. He referred to it as our convertible, which meant a great deal to me.”

Platz said Rose didn’t talk much about his experience with the Kennedy assassination, and he respected that. Retired professor of pathology Jo Benda said that experience was in Rose’s past, and he didn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on it.

He focused on teaching, she said, at which he was excellent.

“He was always showing you something new about something you through you knew everything about,” Benda said. “He had a good sense of humor and a great deal of knowledge.”

The family is planning a public memorial on June 11, although the details haven’t been finalized.

Jorge Perez

IOWA CITY — Police are investigating a death at the home of a 20-year-old man who was arrested Monday on suspicion of leaving his toddler step-son home alone for up to 20 minutes.

Jorge J. Perez, of Iowa City, was brought into the Johnson County Jail on Monday, the same day police were called to his home at 2018 Waterfront Drive #120 on a medical call for a baby with difficulty breathing, according to the Iowa City Police Department’s daily activity log.

Perez currently faces one charge of child endangerment without injury after a mandatory reporter made a report to the Iowa Department of Human Resources accusing Perez of leaving his 20-month-old step son home alone on April 26, according to a criminal complaint.

Iowa City police Sgt. Denise Brotherton said she could not provide details about the person who died because family members were still being notified. She also said she did not know whether multiple children are living in the home.

Perez is being held at the Johnson County Jail in lieu of a $50,000 cash-only bond.

Eric Martin

The suspect in an Iowa City armed robbery last week who is accused of pointing a loaded gun in the faces of  bank employees, leading officers on an hourlong chase and forcing eight schools into lockdown now faces a federal charge of committing bank robbery using a firearm.

U.S. marshals Tuesday morning picked up Eric Martin, 34, of Davenport, from the Johnson County Jail, where he was being held in lieu of a $1 million cash-only bond on suspicion of first-degree robbery, possession of a firearm as a felon, interference with official acts with a weapon, carrying weapons and eluding.

The federal bank robbery with a firearm charge was filed against Martin on Monday, according to court documents. The affidavit filed in support of the charge describes allegations that Martin about 9:30 a.m. April 23 entered Hills Bank and Trust Co., 1401 S. Gilbert St., which is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and demanded money from the tellers.

The affidavit accuses Martin of fleeing the bank, getting on a motorcycle and leading officers on a reckless chase that ended with a collision and a foot pursuit.

According to the federal affidavit, at the time of Martin’s arrest, he was in possession of a backpack containing a loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun and $23,295 in cash.

“Several bait bills from the bank robbery were identified in Martin’s book bag,” according to the affidavit.

According to Iowa City police, Martin is accused of trying to pull his loaded handgun on officers as they chased him on foot. Two Iowa City police officers suffered minor injuries in the pursuit, according to the department.

Martin has a lengthy criminal history in Iowa, starting with his first felony conviction in June 1997. He previously has been sentenced to prison – one 15-year sentence came after Martin was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy.

Detention and preliminary hearings on Martin’s new federal charge are scheduled for 2 p.m. today.

A car involved in a fatal accident at the interchange between Interstate 80 eastbound and southbound Interstate 380 sits outside of Holiday Crane and Wrecker Sunday, April 29, 2012 in Tiffin. According to the Iowa State Patrol the driver of the Volvo lost control of the car while merging onto eastbound Interstate 80 and was struck by a semi. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

TIFFIN — The Iowa State Patrol has identified a woman killed in a crash on Interstate 80 on Sunday evening and said weather might have played role in the deadly collision.

Hyoung Lae Chung, 49, of Mason City, was exiting southbound Interstate 380 onto eastbound Interstate 80 about 6:30 p.m. and lost control at the end of the ramp, sliding sideways into traffic, according to patrol Lt. Randy Jones.

“She lost traction and the car slid and was struck broadside,” Jones said.

A semi-trailer truck being driven by Jaib Singh Ray, 49, of Madera, Calif., was headed east on I-80 when Chung’s 2002 Volvo crossed into its direct path, according to the patrol report. The semi hit the Volvo, sending it into the south ditch and fatally injuring Chung.

The semi crashed into a concreted median barrier, but Jones said the driver wasn’t injured.

The crash remains under investigation, but Jones said preliminary reports indicate drugs and alcohol did not play a role.

“The wet roadways might have contributed to the fact that the tires slipped,” he said. “But we are still in the middle of the investigation. We are still trying to figure out how fast she was going.”

That crash shut down the I-80 entrance ramp off I-380 and a portion of eastbound I-80 near Tiffin for hours Sunday night. Around the same time, another crash involving a semi occurred a few miles east on I-80, according to the patrol.

That crash closed both lanes of eastbound I-80 for at least an hour.

Brooke Elizabeth Ritesman

Iowa City police have arrested a convenience store clerk on suspicion of stealing lottery tickets and cash from her place of work.

Brooke Elizabeth Ritesman, 30, of Iowa City, is accused of taking lottery tickets from the ticket dispenser in the Hawkeye Convenience Store where she worked at 2875 Commerce Drive in Iowa City, according to a criminal complaint. Surveillance video shows Ritesman in November take the lotto tickets and slip them into her purse without making any attempt to pay for them or notify store management, according to police.

Ritesman also is seen taking what appeared to be cash from the register, police reported. On Nov. 6, store accounting revealed Ritesman’s drawer was short $360 cash and $129 in scratch lottery tickets, according to the complaint.

When confronted by investigators, Ritesman admitted to taking the tickets, according to the complaint.  She also apologized to the store management for her behavior and took responsibility for her actions, police reported.

Ritesman, who faces charges of third-degree theft and theft or forgery of a lottery ticket, has been released from the Johnson County Jail after being arrested over the weekend.

She has a lengthy criminal history in Iowa, including theft convictions in May 2009 and October 2003.

Malik Juweid

A suspended University of Iowa radiology professor has sent a letter of resignation to the school after a lengthy battle that played out in the courts and is still costing the UI money.

Malik Juweid’s former attorney Rockne Cole earlier this month withdrew his whistleblower lawsuit against UI officials, telling a judge his client would not show up for a hearing and that the two no longer could maintain “common ground on litigation strategy.”

Juweid has been on leave since January 2010 for what university officials call unprofessional and disruptive behavior. Juweid said he’s being punished for speaking out about discrimination and patient safety issues.

A judge last month ordered the UI to continue paying Juweid until the UI wrapped up its disciplinary action against him. The UI last week scheduled a disciplinary hearing for Juweid in June as part of the process that could lead to his firing.

The UI last week scheduled a disciplinary hearing for Juweid in June as part of the process that could lead to his firing.

Juweid early Thursday sent an email to UI President Sally Mason, and copied it to The Gazette, offering his resignation from his position as medical director of nuclear medicine and tenured professor of radiology. He is asking that his resignation, according to the email, be effective in December “and not a day sooner.”

“Fortunately, I have succeeded in securing a temporary position as a nuclear physician in Germany with an effective date of 1/1/2013,” he wrote in the email. “Until then, I am completely dependent on the salary/compensation from the university, which is to continue until resignation or termination per the order of Honorable Judge Grady.”

Juweid wrote, in the email, that his health insurance “must remain active” until Dec. 31 because his family is dependent on “very expensive medication that we cannot afford but is currently covered by the insurance.”

UI spokesman Tom Moore this morning told The Gazette that university officials are aware of Juweid’s resignation offer, but he said, “President Mason told me she does not receive Dr. Juweid’s emails.”

Although Juweid has offered his resignation, Moore said, the UI has not acted upon that request, and Juweid “remains a member of the faculty.”

Moore said there will be discussions with an attorney before the university proceeds.

In his resignation letter, Juweid wrote, “I am resigning as a hero,” because he “dared to protest against various forms of discrimination against foreign-born faculty at the University of Iowa.”

Juweid wrote in the email that he complained to numerous oversight commissions and agencies and was “intimidated and ultimately punished severely.”

He states that Iowa is a “unique state.”

“All things considered, it is unlikely that I will ever receive justice here,” he wrote, making accusations of prejudice and bigotry. “For all of that, you will most likely win, and I will lose.”

In closing, however, Juweid wished “all decent faculty, employees and students” the best of luck.

Dana Ruecker, a student at the University of Iowa, reads victims' stories written on t-shirts as they blow in the breeze, as part of the Clothesline Project, on the Pentacrest lawn, in Iowa City, Iowa, on Thursday, April 26, 2012. The Clothesline Project began in 1995, through efforts of the Rape Victim Advocacy Program, the Women's Resource and Action Center, and the Domestic Violence Intervention Program. Each color shirt stands for a different form of violence or rape. For more information on the Clothesline Project, visit www.clotheslineproject.org. (Nikole Hanna/The Gazette)

Out of nowhere, at a party during her senior year in high school, Anja Sivertson became one of the “ones.”

One in six women and one in 10 men have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime, according to the Rape Victim Advocacy Program in Johnson County, and Sivertson said she believes that statistic after becoming a part of it.

“When I started talking about it honestly, I found out so many of my close friends had similar experiences and thought it was completely normal,” said the 21-year-old University of Iowa junior who gave The Gazette permission to use her name in this story. “They just thought it was their fault because they had been drinking too much or something.”

A new report from the Injury Prevention Research Center in the University of Iowa College of Public Health reports that one in 35 Iowa women ages 18 to 44 will experience sexual violence this year. More than 55,000 Iowans experienced sexual violence in 2009, and one in 10 were under age 18, according to the report also compiled by the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

The report, “Costs of Sexual Violence in Iowa (2009),” not only tracked the incidents of sexual violence in Iowa, but it also analyzed the direct and indirect costs of sexual violence in the state. In 2009, according to the report, sexual violence cost Iowans $5.8 billion, or about $1,875 per person.

Those costs included more than $300 million for things like medical care, victim’s services and adjudication, according to the report. About $101 million in government money was spent in 2009 as a result of sexual violence – 55 percent was spent on people who committed the offenses and more than 44 percent went to sexual assault victims, the report shows.

Meanwhile, less than 1 percent of state and federal funds are spent on efforts to prevent sexual violence, according to Corinne Peek-Asa, director of the UI’s Injury Prevention Research Center and professor of occupational and environmental health.

“When talking about sexual violence, we have to take into account part of the costs of STDs, pregnancy, suicidal acts, and substance abuse, in addition to lost work, property damage and other indirect costs more commonly associated with these acts,” Peek-Asa said in a news release.

On Thursday, the same day the new report was released, the Rape Victim Advocacy Program teamed up with the UI for the “Clothesline Project,” which displayed on campus rows of T-shirts decorated by victims of sexual assault and other acts of violence.

“I have survived, year after year,” one person wrote on a shirt. Another victim wrote, “13 years old, I never called it rape.”

Susan Junis, education coordinator for RVAP, said the primary impact of sexual assault is the emotional toll it takes on victims, but she said there are definitely corollary costs – not being able to work or attend class, for example, and missing out on wages or earning potential.

“We hope the emotional impact will be most important to people,” Junis said. “But some people understand numbers better, and that direct impact of cost can be really eye-opening.”

Sivertson said that after she was assaulted, she went to the hospital, had a rape examination and has received medication and counseling services. So far, Sivertson said, she has declined to press charges because of what that might put her through emotionally.

“But my clothes are still sitting in a bag at the hospital,” she said. “They’ve been there for years.”

Sivertson said she understands that sexual violence can be a financial burden on victims and taxpayers, but the emotional weight has been much heavier for her.

“What he did to me affected every day of my life,” she said.

Linda Gerdner, of Burlington, Iowa, waves her sign as a helicopter passes overhead Slater Dorm, across from the Field House, in Iowa City, Iowa, on Wednesday, April 25, 2012. (Nikole Hanna/The Gazette-KCRG)

IOWA CITY — Everyone in Iowa City is not a liberal was the message University of Iowa junior Kelsey Boehm hoped to get across Wednesday by protesting near where President Barack Obama was about to speak.

Boehm, chairwoman of the UI College Republicans, was among a few dozen people who showed up with signs and bullhorns outside the UI Field House upset with what Obama has done with his time in office.

“Defeat Obama,” one man shouted, as another called for the president’s retirement “to begin this year.”

Boehm, holding a sign that read, “I will keep my freedom, guns and money, you can keep your change,” said she thinks Obama should skip the rhetoric about student loans — the Iowa City stop focusing on the issue was the third in two days at college towns — and stick to matters related to the economy and jobs.

“The young people out here supporting him are the ones being hit the hardest by the economy,” said Boehm, who is planning to attend law school and delay her entrance into the workforce a few years.

“But I’m very concerned,” she said. “I have lots of friends who are settling for jobs that are a lot less than what they would have a few years ago.”

With his sights also set on law school, UI senior John Twillmann, 22, said his fears lie squarely on the weak job market, even though he’ll be strapped with debt by the time he finishes school.

“The issue is much deeper than interest rates,” Twillmann said, referencing the focus of Obama’s speech to UI students about the need for Congress to stop interest rates on student loans from doubling in July.

“He just has lots of rhetoric and empty promises,” said Twillmann, executive director of the Iowa Federation of College Republicans.

Twillmann, the former chairman of the UI College Republicans, joined Wednesday’s protest outside the Field House and said it was met with much less opposition than the last time they protested during Obama’s visit to Iowa City in 2010.

“Last time we had hundreds of people yelling in our faces,” he said. “This time it’s mixed, but it’s much better than in 2010 when Obama came.”

Many people lined up for the event said they hardly noticed the protesters.

“I’ve got tunnel vision, and Obama’s at the end of it,” UI freshman Annalyse Madsen, 18, said with a laugh.

Her friend Max Shaffer, also a UI freshman, said he came to hear the president talk because the subject of student loans is relevant to his life. Madsen said her reason was simpler.

“I just wanted to come because I thought it would be awesome,” she said.

Gregg Cummings, of Lamoni, Iowa, speaks to fellow protestors of President Barack Obama, outside Slater Dorm, across from the Field House, in Iowa City, Iowa, on Wednesday, April 25, 2012. (Nikole Hanna/The Gazette-KCRG)

Protesters line up outside the University of Iowa Fieldhouse in advance of President Obama's speech Wednesday. (photo by Addison Speck/KCRG-TV9)

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus Wednesday morning called President Barack Obama’s visit to the University of Iowa campus just another “presidential taxpayer-funded campaign trip.”

“It’s amazing to me that Air Force One has a magnet that only lands in battle ground states,” Chairman Reince Pribus said on a conference call before Obama’s planned afternoon visit to the Field House on the UI campus in Iowa City.

Priebus said, in fact, that the Republican National Committee is looking into filing a complaint regarding the president’s use of his time and money for campaigning.

“If the president spends the majority of their time campaigning … perhaps they should be subject to a complaint,” he said.

Priebus, on the call, said his party’s National Committee is now endorsing presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney as the party’s candidate after he won all five Northeast states that held primaries Tuesday.

“That means he’s our guy,” Priebus said. “It’s beyond an endorsement. It’s the RNC putting resources and energy behind Mitt Romney. … He’s going to be a great president.”

Priebus said the committee is rolling out new digital media strategies and merging resources with the Romney campaign to break records regarding fundraising, voter registration and turnout for this fall’s general election.

He said the Republican National Committee is going to do 10 times for Romney what the Democratic National Committee is going to do for Obama.

In light of Obama’s speaking tour on college campuses that is wrapping up today with his visit to Iowa, Priebus said the United States needs a president that is more about action that rhetoric.

“His policies aren’t working,” Priebus said. “Speeches don’t change things in this country, and we have to move beyond speeches and press conferences.”

Priebus said the Republic Party doesn’t want interest rates on student loans to increase, referencing the planned topic for Obama’s speech today. But, he said, Obama “needs to focus on the real problems in this country.”

That’s finding new graduates jobs, he said.

“Students can’t get anywhere if they are living in their parent’s basement,” he said. “The interest rate is important, but the bigger issue is the president has been an absolute failure in terms of meeting the standards of Americans.”

According to the White House, Obama’s message will be focused on the fact that the interest rate on federally-subsidized Stafford student loans is scheduled to double on July 1. Obama is calling for congressional action to keep the rates low.

If the rate is allowed to jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, about seven million undergraduates would be affected. According to the White House, it would raise costs by about $1,000 per student, on average.

Lori Ann Becicka

A 47-year-old Oxford mother who was arrested in March on suspicion of drunken driving after her teenage daughter called 911 from inside the car has been arrested again on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Lori Anne Sedlacek Becicka was arrested about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday near Main Street and Ohio Avenue in Oxford after a Johnson County sheriff’s deputy spotted her vehicle. Becicka, according to a criminal complaint, immediately pulled over and exited the vehicle.

She smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot and watery eyes, slurred speech, and a deputy saw multiple cans of beer inside her car, according to a criminal complaint.

Becicka’s blood alcohol content level tested at .183, according to the complaint. She did not have required glasses or contacts, according to police, and her driving status was revoked at the time because of her previous case from March 15.

In that case, Becicka’s 15-year-old daughter called 911 to report that she was inside a car with her mom, who was driving drunk, according to police. Becicka was driving along 250^th Street on her way to an address in Oxford about 8:10 p.m. when her concerned daughter called, police reported.

On the 911 tapes, obtained by The Gazette, Becicka can be heard in the background demanding to know who her daughter was calling. Becicka eventually pulled over, and a sheriff’s deputy arrested her on suspicion of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated – her blood alcohol content tested at .235, according to police.

The teen told police her mom had been drinking while driving in the car, and officers found open alcohol containers in the car, according to a complaint. She also was charged at that time with child endangerment.

Becicka posted a bond of $5,000 on March 16 to get out of jail on those charges. Her trial in that case is scheduled for June 12.

She was released from the Johnson County Jail on the new charges Wednesday morning.

Dantreil Ware

Iowa City police have arrested a third teenager in connection with an armed robbery at the Creekside Market in February that left a clerk with injuries after police say she was held at knife point.

Dantreil Lovell Ware, 18, of Iowa City, is now in custody on charges of first-degree robbery, armed with intent and assault with a dangerous weapon. Two co-defendants, Jackie J. Lane and Daveon Curry, were arrested in March, and a warrant for Ware’s arrest was issued at that time.

According to police, the men collaborated in a robbery at the Creekside Market, 2601 Highway 6 East in Iowa City, on Feb. 22. Officers were called to the store about 11 p.m. after a clerk said a man entered the business, jumped over the counter and grabbed her from behind in a choke hold, according to a criminal complaint.

Lane is accused of holding a knife against the victim’s neck and telling her she had “five seconds to get the money or I am going to slit your throat wide open,” according to the complaint.

The victim, who suffered injuries in the attack, complied with the demands, and the suspect fled, according to police. The robbery was caught on surveillance cameras, and officers reviewing the footage recognized one of the suspects from a previous interaction.

Lane is accused of jumping over the counter, brandishing the knife and threatening the clerk’s life. Curry is accused of acting as a lookout in exchange for money – about $40, according to police.

Ware is accused of entering the store and standing in as a decoy to distract the clerk so Lane could sneak up on her, police reported.

The men got away with several hundred dollars in cash, according to police, and Ware’s co-defendants have admitted to officers that they went into the store to steal.

Several of Ware’s acquaintances and a family member identified him from the surveillance video, and police suspected he fled the area to the Chicago region, according to a complaint.

Ware, who has a previous robbery conviction, is being held in the Johnson County Jail in lieu of a $30,000 cash-only bond. Lane is being held on a $115,800 bond, and Curry is being held on a $70,000 bond.

First-degree robbery is a felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Going armed with intent and assault with a dangerous weapon also are felonies,  punishable by no more than five years in prison.

Larry Billman

An Iowa City man was arrested late Sunday after police said he verbally harassed and made racist comments to a female housemate who confronted him about using the wrong bathroom.

The woman, according to a criminal complaint, confronted Larry Leonard Billman, 45, about 11 p.m. Sunday regarding his use of the upstairs restroom in the house at 121 North Van Buren St.

“The defendant has been told by property management to use the restroom on his floor,” according to police.

When the woman confronted Billman, according to the complaint, he became angry and made several racist comments.

Billman is accused of threatening “to kick in the defendant’s door and trash her room, have her kicked out of the house, poor (sic) bleach in her mouthwash, urinate on her food, and poor (sic) bleach on her clothes,” according to the complaint.

He also is accused of threatening to “slit the victim’s throat,” according to police.

Billman faces a charge of first-degree harassment, punishable by up to two years in prison.

He is being held at the Johnson County Jail in lieu of a $1,000 cash-only bond.

Eric Martin

The suspect in an Iowa City armed robbery Monday that led officers on an hourlong chase and forced eight schools into lockdown is accused of pointing a loaded gun in the face of bank employees and customers and trying to pull out the loaded weapon as officers were chasing him.

Eric Martin, 34, of Davenport, is being held at the Johnson County Jail this morning in lieu of a $1 million cash-only bond on suspicion of first-degree robbery, possession of a firearm as a felon, interference with official acts with a weapon, carrying weapons and eluding.

According to criminal complaints made public Tuesday morning, Martin is accused of entering Hills Bank and Trust Co., 1401 S. Gilbert St., at 9:32 a.m. and demanding cash from the tellers. According to police, surveillance video captured during the robbery shows Martin threatening bank employees and customers with a loaded 9mm gun and pointing it in several people’s faces.

Officers saw a man matching the description of the robber leave the scene on a motorcycle, according to a complaint, and they followed him as he “drove recklessly on sidewalks, through residential yards, and on bike trails.”

“The suspect did not stop until his motorcycle was inoperable, then he tried to run away on foot,” police reported.

The vehicular pursuit ended in a residential yard, and as officers were chasing Martin on foot, he’s accused of trying to pull out the loaded handgun, according to the complaint.  Officers knocked him to the ground and took him into custody before he could succeed in pulling the weapon, the complaint states.

The gun was loaded with a round chambered, police reported.

The pursuit ended in the 1900 block of Woodberry Court, near Willow Creek Park. Martin initially was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for treatment of minor injuries.

Two Iowa City police officers also suffered minor injuries in the pursuit, according to the department.

The Iowa City Police Department is working with the FBI to determine whether Martin has been involved in three previous bank robberies in town, according to a news release.

Martin has a lengthy criminal history in Iowa. He first became a convicted felon in this state in June 1997, when he was found guilty of theft and other felony charges. He was sentenced to five years in prison at that time, according to court records.

In 2003, he was convicted of conspiracy to commit a felony and again sentenced to five years in prison. In 2005, he was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy and sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to court records.

He also has been convicted of drunken driving and fleeing the state to avoid prosecution, court records show.